Demolition was a professional wrestling tag team most prominent during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) made up of Ax (Bill Eadie), Smash (Barry Darsow), and later Crush (Brian Adams). In WWF, Demolition were three-time Tag Team Champions, and hold the records for both the single longest tag title reign and the most combined days as reigning champions.[10] Beginning in 2007, Ax and Smash reunited for several appearances at various independent shows and legends conventions.[1]
Randy Colley and Bill Eadie created the Demolition gimmick and worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They debuted as a heel tag team on the January 17, 1987 edition of Superstars, alongside manager Luscious Johnny V, defeating the team of Salvatore Bellomo and Mario Mancini.[9] Resembling Lord Humungus of the 1981 film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, And the facepaint of hard rockers KISS. Demolition wore studded black leather outfits and leather-covered hockey masks to the ring, which they removed to reveal face paint usually made up of some combination of black, white, red, or silver colors, though other colors were sometimes included. After only a few matches, Colley was replaced with Barry Darsow in a match aired on the February 14, 1987 edition of Superstars. In an RF Video shoot interview with Eadie and Darsow, Eadie claimed that Colley was replaced because he was recognizable to the fans as the man who previously performed as Moondog Rex. The WWF pitched a few potential replacements to Eadie, but he felt fans would recognize the suggested replacements. Eadie felt that many WWF fans would not recognize Darsow, who left Jim Crockett Promotions following a dispute in order to take over the role of Smash.[1][4][5][8]
On the March 14 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Demolition participated in a battle royal, won by Hercules Hernandez.[11] Demolition became known for their aggressive style in the ring and the way that they dominated their matches. Their first feud was with the team of Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes, which started after Ax and Smash brutalized WWF jobber Brady Boone (billed in storyline as the cousin of Billy Jack Haynes) during a televised match. Demolition claimed victories over all of the established face tag teams in the WWF at the time, including the Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair), The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond), British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith),[12]The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers),[9]The Islanders (Haku and Tama),[9] and Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk).[12] Around that same period, Johnny Valiant (who left not too long afterwards) "sold" their contracts to Mr. Fuji who became their manager.
Demolition made their pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series in an elimination tag team match where 5 babyface teams faced 5 heel teams. Demolition was part of the heel group and the face team went on to win the match.[13]
At WrestleMania IV, Ax and Smash defeated Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship. Ax struck Martel in the back of the neck with Fuji's cane while he had Smash in a Boston crab (Fuji had dropped the cane into the ring while taking a beating from Santana who carried on oblivious to what was happening in the ring). Martel was knocked out and Smash covered him for the pin while Ax hid outside with the cane.[1][14][15] As champions, they defeated a number of the top teams of the WWF, which at the time had a very talent-rich and hotly contested tag division, most notably the British Bulldogs[1][16] and Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart).[1][17][18]
Their first big challenge came in the summer of 1988, when the Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) entered the WWF and challenged them for the Tag Team Championship. During the elimination tag team match at Survivor Series, Mr. Fuji attacked Demolition and joined forces with the Powers of Pain. A double turn took place as Demolition turned face while the Powers of Pain turned heel.[19][20] Demolition defeated the Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji in a tag team handicap match at WrestleMania V to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship when they caught Fuji in the "Demolition Decapitation".[21] Prior to this, Ax and Smash also memorably squared off against each other as entrants #1 and #2 in the Royal Rumble match at the Summit in Houston in 1989, tearing into each other for the full two minutes before being joined in the ring by the third entrant Andr the Giant, where they once again joined as Demolition and targeted the big man.[22]
After WrestleMania V, Demolition started a feud with the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), who were the members of the heel stable The Heenan Family, led by none other than Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. On the May 27, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, the Brain Busters defeated Demolition by disqualification.[23] Demolition became the longest reigning WWF Tag Team Champions after breaking the record of The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy and Johnny), and lasting a reign of 478 days.[24] They finally dropped the titles to the Brain Busters in a two out of three falls match on the July 29 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.[1][25] Demolition started a feud with Andr the Giant and the Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Bossman). At SummerSlam 1989, King Duggan and Demolition defeated Andr and the Twin Towers in a six-man tag team match.[26] Demolition focused on regaining the tag titles and restarted their feud with the Brain Busters. On the November 4 edition of Superstars (taped on October 2), Demolition defeated the Brain Busters to regain their tag titles and win their second WWF Tag Team Championship.[1][9][27]
Demolition next feuded with the new Heenan Family team, the Colossal Connection (Andr the Giant and Haku). On the December 30 edition of Superstars (taped on December 13), Demolition lost the tag titles to the Colossal Connection.[1][9] At WrestleMania VI at the Skydome in Toronto, Demolition defeated the Colossal Connection to regain the titles and win their third and final WWF Tag Team Championship, and finally put an end to their feud with the Heenan Family.[1][28][29] Due to his deteriorating physical condition, Andr never tagged in during the match with Haku facing Demolition on his own.
Shortly after WrestleMania VI, the team gradually began to turn heel again. This intensified when Brian Adams debuted in WWF and joined the team as Crush.[1][6][30] In kayfabe it was claimed that this was a heinous scheme to gain a three-on-two advantage over other tag teams, but it was actually because Eadie had developed an allergy to shellfish (which he attributed to his frequent trips to Japan) which hospitalized him, and WWF owner and head booker Vince McMahon wanted to add a third member to the team just in case the illness put Eadie out of action for an extended period of time.[31]
Crush soon took a more active role, teaming with Smash while Ax faded into the background, becoming more of a manager. At this time Demolition used the "Freebird rule" to allow any two members to wrestle the matches. Smash and Crush defended the titles in the summer of 1990. On the July 28 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Smash and Crush defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) to retain the titles[1][32] after Ax interfered on their behalf and attacked Michaels.[33] The next month at SummerSlam, however, Demolition lost the titles to Hart Foundation in a two out of three falls match. In that match, Smash & Crush started, but Ax secretly came down later on to substitute himself into the match behind the referee's back. Ultimately, the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal),[1][34][35] who had signed with the WWF a month earlier, interfered and snuffed out the deception. Demolition never recaptured the titles after this loss.
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